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Under what circumstances do new constitutions improve a nation's level of democracy? Between 1974 and 2014, democracy increased in seventy-seven countries following the adoption of a new constitution, but it decreased or stayed the same in forty-seven others. This book demonstrates that increased participation in the forming of constitutions positively impacts levels of democracy. It is discovered that the degree of citizen participation at the 'convening stage' of constitution-making has a strong effect on levels of democracy. This finding defies the common theory that levels of democracy result from the content of constitutions, and instead lends support to 'deliberative' theories of democracy. Patterns of constitutions are then compared, differentiating imposed and popular constitution-making processes, using case studies from Chile, Nigeria, Gambia, and Venezuela to illustrate the dynamics specific to imposed constitution-making, and case studies from Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, and Tunisia to illustrate the specific dynamics of popular constitution-making.

Shows for the first time that the level of participation in building democracy through new constitutions matters more than the content of the constitution itself

Reviews & endorsements

'Normative theories of constitution making have traditionally proposed that only constitutions adopted with a high degree of citizen involvement can work as the foundational moment of a vigorous democracy. Although this claim seems intuitively plausible, the link between participatory constitution making and democratization has never been systematically tested. This book is the first to provide empirical support to the democratizing effect of citizen involvement in constitutional moments, yet showing that participation at the early deliberative stage of constitution making is what matters for the inauguration of a true liberal democracy. Constituents before Assembly is a major contribution to the field of constitutional politics and will be indispensable reading not only for scholars interested in comparative constitutionalism but also for international agencies and reformers engaged in actual processes of constitution building.'
Gabriel L. Negretto,, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, Mexico (CIDE)

'Participatory constitution making is emerging as a new international norm. This ambitious book represents the first systematic attempt to study the impact of this new mode of crafting constitutions, which consists in seeking popular input at various stages of the process. Using advanced statistical techniques the authors show, among other things, that popular participation upstream of the process matters much more than downstream referenda. This book should prove invaluable to constitution designers around the world, as well as democratic theory scholars and anyone interested in ways of perfecting our democracies.'
Hélène Landemore, Yale University, Connecticut

'Comparative constitutional analysis is quite literally as old as Aristotle, as scholars have sought to find the wisest design for political institutions. But recently specialists have realized that politics as much as wisdom is at issue and they have turned their attention to the process by which constitutions are written. The authors of this empirically careful and conceptually sophisticated inquiry walk us through the political implications of who gets a voice, when, and how during a country's constitution drafting process.'
Nathan J. Brown, George Washington University, Washington, DC and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

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Product details

Date Published: December 2018

format: Paperback

isbn: 9781316619551

length: 222pages

dimensions: 229 x 152 mm

weight: 0.307kg

availability: Available

Table of Contents

Introducing constitutions as political process 1. A call to pens (even if not mightier than swords): how context and process prevail over content in constitutional change 2. Making the constituents King: how constituent deliberation on new constitutions democratizes more than mere citizen participation 3. Parchment politics: the importance of context and conditions to the convening of constitutions 4. The logic of 'top down' elite constitutionalism: how imposed processes may (but usually do not) produce better democracy 5. The logic of 'bottom up' constitutionalism: how popular processes tilt the odds in favor of democracy 6. Interest groups versus individual participation, and the gap between ideal constitutional process and real world practices.

Authors

Todd A. Eisenstadt, American University, Washington DCTodd A. Eisenstadt is Professor of Government at American University, Washington DC. His democratization and rule of law scholarship includes his award-winning dissertation book, Courting Democracy in Mexico: Party Strategies and Electoral Institutions (Cambridge, 2004). His research has been funded by Fulbright, the Ford and Mellon Foundations, and the National Science Foundation. He has held visiting appointments at El Colegio de México, Harvard University, Massachusetts, the University of California, San Diego, and the Latin American Social Science Faculty (FLACSO) in Ecuador.

A. Carl LeVan, American University, Washington DCA. Carl LeVan is Associate Professor in the School of International Service at American University, Washington, DC. He is the author of Dictators and Democracy in African Development: The Political Economy of Good Governance in Nigeria (Cambridge, 2015), and co-editor of African State Governance: Subnational Politics and National Power (2015). Prior to receiving his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego, he worked as a legislative director in the US Congress and later worked as a technical advisor to Nigeria's National Assembly.

Tofigh Maboudi, Loyola University, ChicagoTofigh Maboudi is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Loyola University, Chicago. His research on constitutional reform processes has appeared in the American Political Science Review and Political Research Quarterly. Prior to receiving his Ph.D. in Political Science from American University Washington, DC, he worked as a foreign media consultant in Tehran, Iran where he received his Master's degree in North American Studies. During his Ph.D. program, he received several awards including the American University's Award for Outstanding Scholarship at the Graduate Level.

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